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Pictured, from left, are Pit River tribal members Tyler LaMirande, 7th grade; Mikaela Gali-LaMirande, 10th grade; Talissa Gali, 5th grade; and Alexis Elmore, 7th grade, have reported systemic bullying targeting them and other Indian students at Burney Junior-Senior High School and Burney Elementary in Northern California.

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Notes reading “Watch Your Redskinned Back” and “White Pride Bitch” were left March 4 in the lockers of two Pit River Tribe students at a Northern California high school where parents have alleged for months there is systemic, racially charged abuse of their children.

The notes were reported by parents to the Shasta County Sheriff’s Office, and deputies are investigating whether it constitutes a hate crime. Believing that the atmosphere at Burney Junior-Senior High School has become too toxic and dangerous, two Pit River parents have already transferred their children to the neighboring schools 16 miles away in Fall River Mills.

“I have to protect my daughter. (The administration) should have done something at the beginning, but they sat on their hands,” said Matilda Wilson, whose daughter Sarah, 12, received one of the notes and has been the subject of regular racial taunting. “They have been calling the Native kids names like ‘dirty rotten Indians’ and ‘wagon burners’, but the staff just passes it off as if ‘it’s just kids being kids.’ But then it escalates.”

Pit River tribal member Sharon Elmore’s daughter, Alexis Elmore, 12, received one of the notes. Elmore said the incident made her cry as she remembered suffering similar bullying when she was the same age, a sentiment echoed by many other parents who say racism in the schools has persisted for generations.

“When I heard about the notes, I was really scared. I dropped out in ninth grade because of how bad the racism was, and it’s sad it has never really stopped,” Elmore said. “They’re just randomly attacking our Native kids, and the teachers are looking the other way.”

Elmore believes the notes are related to white students reportedly creating a “Redneck Club” as a response to the Pit River students holding elections for their Native Youth Council. Many running for council had posted “Native Pride” stickers on their lockers, which were later defaced, Elmore said.

Fall River Unified School District Superintendent Greg Hawkins said he met with Burney Junior-Senior High’s principal and vice principal about the incident and they are taking the matter seriously. He said he was unaware of any previous reports of racial issues at the school and said they had not made any decisions whether specific action was necessary to address the situation.

“We value our relationship with the Native American community members, and it’s our goal to have a safe school for everyone,” he said. “But the bottom line is we have to know what’s going on to fix it. We encourage the students and parents to contact the administration if there’s a problem.”

However, Pit River parents have been talking with Indian Country Today Media Network about the racist bullying and the alleged lack of response by administrators since December, and their allegations are remarkably similar to those in recent legal complaints filed in December by the American Civil Liberties Union, Yurok Tribe and Wiyot Tribe of Table Bluff Rancheria against two Humboldt County school districts.

These allegations are being made in a region that is not far removed from the genocide suffered by Northern California tribes during the Gold Rush era when Indians were hunted by government funded militias, forced into slavery under California law and later sent to boarding schools to be converted to Christianity.

“The cowboys and Indians days have never ended (in Northern California),” Elmore said.

In the Humboldt complaints, parents alleged staff ignored their concerns of racist bullying until the Indian students reacted out of frustration, leading to detentions and suspensions while the bullies were relatively unpunished. This led to a cycle, the complaints allege, of Native students regularly being disproportionately suspended and being pushed into continuation schools, where college preparatory classes are unavailable.

Pit River parents shared similar concerns about Burney schools during a January 31 meeting at the Pit River tribal offices, where Elmore and others gathered to discuss her meeting with the high school’s principal, Ray Guerrero. The previous day, Elmore had sent a letter notifying him of her daughter Alexis being sexually harassed by other students during what is known at the school “Slap Ass Friday” and “Crotch Shot Thursday”, which had forced Alexis to change for gym in a teacher’s office in order to feel safe.

Parents at that meeting said racism began to escalate about a year ago when Pit River 7th grader Tyler LaMirande, his two siblings and his mother Michele LaMirande had moved back to the Pit River Tribe’s reservation from the Bay Area after Tyler’s father had passed away from kidney disease.

Tyler had grown his hair long in honor of his father, and students would pull him down by the hair in gym class as well as call him a “long-haired freak” and homosexual slurs, Tyler and LaMirande said. When Tyler was suspended in October after fighting a student who ridiculed his hair, Guerrero told her that she should cut Tyler’s hair to stop the bullying, LaMirande said.

“I can already see Tyler is becoming bitter towards people and angrier. He was a relatively happy kid before he came here,” LaMirande said.

As was reported in the Humboldt county complaints, many of the Pit River students are suffering from depression and anxiety due to the school environments, they and their parents said.

Morning Star Gali, the Pit River Tribal Historic Preservation Officer, transferred her 4th grade daughter, Talissa, from Burney Elementary because she had begun plucking out her own eyelashes from the stress of school. Part of her stress, Gali said, related from teachers being harshly critical or dismissive of her daughter’s perspectives based on her tribal values and history, a problem also raised by many other Pit River parents and students.

“It was concerning that she wasn’t encouraged to go against the grain and that her opinion wasn’t respected when she was the only Native student in the class,” Gali said. “They know better, but they seem like they just want to teach what they want and not go outside of that.”

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Ms. Wilson, the fact is that students of tribal heritage are very few in number in what is a largely student body who are ignorant of native heritage and culture. One of the most aggravating circumstances is that the school administrators are going about day-to-day business with blinders on to the bullying and acts of racism that takes place under their very noses. Please note that the State of California laws prohibit unlawful discrimination in education, particularly I cite, Education Code section 220 that "prohibits discrimination based on sex, ethnic group identification, race, national origin, religion, mental or physical disability by any educational institution that receives or benefits from state financial assistance or enrolls pupils who receive state student financial aid." The parents and students who are being harassed because of race have every right to file a legal suit after exhausting all efforts to bring the matter to a resolve from school administrators. Lastly, I suggest you and parents seek legal assistance to bring this matter to a close for the sake of yourselves, all students whether they are currently attend or for those who will be attending. No one in today's U.S. educational system should bear any mental and physical abuse of any type whatsoever. Sadly, our country has become one where we have to resort to legal procedures, but the fact is that Native Americans have received the short end of the stick for far, far too long. Stand up for your rights!

Isn't this a bit like having the wolves watch the sheep?
" The notes were reported by parents to the Shasta County Sheriff’s Office, and deputies are investigating whether it constitutes a hate crime."
You can bet that had it been Native kids picking on a White student there would have been no doubt that it were a HATE CRIME.
Where is A.I.M. when you need them?

I agree with Bullbear regarding legal action....hit them in the bankbook!
It is a sad state of affairs when money is somehow seen as fair compensation for inhumanity; however, loss of school district funds to discrimination lawsuits is the only way these administrators will be held accountable for their actions (or lack thereof).
Michael is right about the "wolves watching the sheep" and until it becomes a money issue, it will continue.
I really hope that Tyler won't cut his hair, or lose his happy nature.
As an educator, I'm disgusted and sadly unsurprised that the school administration brushed this off!

I MADE THIS VIDEO FOR ALL NATIVE AMERICANS, civil rights issues, and how to prepare for court,
Carrie Geren Scoggins Political Newsletter Bible Prophecy Times Edition
NATIVE AMERICAN SCHOOL CHILDREN, THE PIT RIVER TRIBE, IN CALIFORNIA SCHOOLS, RECEIVE THREATS TO "WATCH THEIR RED SKINNED BACKS," AND SUFFER PROFANE WHITE-PRIDE REMARKS.
RACE IS A PROTECTED CLASS, SCHOOLS REFUSING TO DISCIPLINE STUDENTS HARASSING NATIVE AMERICANS VIOLATE THE LAW.
http://youtu.be/PArZDvjmYuk
RACE IS A PROTECTED CLASS UNDER THE LAW, AND NATIVE AMERICANS HAVE PROTECTED CLASS STATUS. THIS MEANS THAT THEY CAN FILE SUIT FOR ANY RACIAL DISCRIMINATION THAT THEY MIGHT SUFFER.
NATIVE AMERICANS NEED TO RECORD ALL AUDIO AND VIDEO OF HARASSMENT,
RACIAL SLURS, OR NOTES PASSED TO THEM MAKING THREATENING OR HARASSING STATEMENTS, TO BE SAVED FOR COURT, AND FOR LAW ENFORCEMENT.
GET A POLICE REPORT FOR EVERY SINGLE INCIDENT OF RACIAL HARASSMENT, TO BEGIN BUILDING A CASE FOR RACIAL DISCRIMINATION.
THESE WILL BE USED TO COURT TO ESTABLISH ONGOING HARASSMENT.
IT IS IMPORTANT FOR NATIVE AMERICANS TO KEEP RECORDS OF INCIDENTS IN A NOTEBOOK,
LOG AND DATE THE TIMES AND INCIDENTS OF RACIAL HARASSMENT OCCURRED,
TAG NUMBERS OF THOSE DOING THE HARASSMENT, SAVE COPIES OF THREATENING NOTES OR LETTERS, VIDEO AND AUDIO RECORD THOSE DOING THE HARASSMENT,
AND CALL THE POLICE TO MAKE A REPORT OF THE INCIDENTS, TO MAKE SURE THAT THIS IS ON FILE, IN CASE THEIR HARASSMENT CONTINUES OR ESCALATES INTO VIOLENCE AGAINST THE TRIBE,
OR THEMSELVES. DOCUMENTATION FOR COURT FOR A DISCRIMINATION CASE, AND FOR LAW ENFORCEMENT IN ORDER TO PROSECUTE. THIS AIDS IN TAKING OUT NEEDED RESTRAINING ORDERS, AND TO PROTECT THE VICTIMS FROM ANY MORE HARASSMENT.
NO GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEE, RANGING FROM SCHOOL TEACHERS, SCHOOL OFFICIALS,
OR LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCIES,
ARE ALLOWED TO MISTREAT NATIVE AMERICANS DUE TO RACIAL MAKE UP. RACIST REMARKS,
INSULTS, THREATS, OR VIOLENCE, TOWARD NATIVE AMERICANS IS ILLEGAL.
THIS TYPE OF ACTIVITY HAS TO BE REPORTED, AND IF NOTHING IS DONE TO PROTECT YOU, THEN TAKE YOUR CASE TO THE MEDIA AND ATTORNEYS.

Please don't give up, but keep your family safe. This is disgusting behavior. Completely unacceptable. And my take on school districts is that they listen to money or lawsuits. Be safe. Be brave. My heart goes out to you in your fight.

Please don't give up, but keep your family safe. This is disgusting behavior. Completely unacceptable. And my take on school districts is that they listen to money or lawsuits. Be safe. Be brave. My heart goes out to you in your fight.